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¹School of Politics and Sociology, Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet Street, London WCIE 7HX, UK. E-mail: r.murray@pol-soc.bbk.ac.uk

This paper examines the failed application of France's 'parity' law to the general election of 2002. It challenges the claims of French parties that the low level of women elected was a consequence of the unusual political circumstances surrounding the elections. I posit that the primary cause of parity's failure was actually the attitudes of political parties towards women. A closer inspection of the election results substantiates this argument on a number of fronts. Firstly, the election results are replayed to reveal whether more women would have been elected if the Left had won the election. Various candidate attributes are then evaluated to test whether or not men and women were on a level playing field. The significance of factors such as sex and incumbency status in determining electoral success is brought into question. Finally, the research is extended towards suppléants as a further test of party attitudes towards female politicians. The findings cast grave doubts on the underlying good will of parties to implement parity, and suggest that blaming the unusual circumstances of 2002 may just be a convenient excuse for what is actually a deep-rooted problem.

French Politics (2004) 2, 347-362. doi:10.1057/palgrave.fp.8200063

France; women; parity; 2002 elections; incumbency